League Notes

In Chicago, Joe Cowley wrote the “Super Teams" in the NBA "are here to stay, and it could be the best thing to happen ... since two guys named Magic and Bird resurrected the league.” Bulls F Kyle Korver said, “It creates a lot of excitement for the NBA. A lot of people want to watch certain games. From a financial standpoint, maybe it hurts some of the other teams, but I don’t know. Going into this year, you look at the height of the NBA, and it’s probably at an all-time high. A lot of that was because of what happened in Miami, so in some ways I would say it’s good because it generates a lot of hype’’ (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 3/2). But in Utah, Doug Robinson writes an open letter to NBA players under the header, “Star-Studded NBA Teams Could Ruin Smaller-Market Franchises.” Robinson: “You're killing the golden goose. It might seem like a good idea now to have superstars building their own teams, but in the long run it's bad for the future of the league and the next generations of players" (DESERET NEWS, 3/4).

EVERYTHING IS BIGGER IN TEXAS: In San Antonio, Terrence Thomas reports the WNBA announced Thursday that “this year’s All-Star Game will be on July 23 at the AT&T Center.” Bringing the event to the city was an “eight-month endeavor” for Spurs Sports & Entertainment, the parent company of the WNBA Silver Stars. SSE “contacted the WNBA about hosting" the event last July, and “after providing a business plan and going through a bid process, the city was chosen to host the contest.” It is believed that “at least two other WNBA cities made bids for the game.” Silver Stars Dir of Business Operations Russell Warren said, “It’s the premier event for the WNBA, and we feel like we’ve got the best place to showcase that” (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS, 3/4).

WINNING THE MAJORITY VOTE: SI GOLF+ surveyed more than 200 pros from the PGA, LPGA and Champions tours about a variety of subjects pertaining to the game of golf. Fifty-five percent of the LPGA members surveyed rated Mike Whan’s first year as LPGA Commissioner “excellent,” with 35% rating his performance “good" and 7% rating it “OK.” Meanwhile, 20% of the PGA Tour members that participated said that Joe Ogilvie should be the next PGA Tour Commissioner. Peter Jacobsen earned 17% of the vote with 4% of the votes for MLB Rangers COO and former PGA Tour Exec VP & COO Rick George(SI GOLF+, 3/7 issue).